BUT FOR THE GRACE OF G-D
"I've never decided a man's worth by the size of his wallet." - Oliver Stone's Wall Street.
"My ambition is to be an idealist without illusions." - President John F. Kennedy.
Harry Truman once said he wished he could find a one-armed economist, because his advisors were always saying, "On the one hand this, but on the other hand, that."
Can anyone tell with whom G-d is pleased by how much a person appears to have?
Are the things that have most, most "blessed?"
On the one hand, "The L-rd shall open to you His good treasure of heaven to give the rain to your land in His season, and to bless all the work of your hand: and you shall lend to many nations, and you shall not borrow." (Deut. 28:12) --- but on the other hand --- "The righteous man is (successfully) unjustly condemned, and no one pays attention as just people are (successfully) taken away by evil." (Isa. 57:1)
On the one hand, "When I cry unto You, then shall my enemies turn back: by this I know G-d is for me." (Ps. 56:9) ---- but on the other hand, "...heroes of faith were tortured, not being rescued; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and whippings, yes, also of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned to death, they were sawn in half, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (people of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth." (Hebrews 11:35-38)
On the one hand, King Solomon wrote "In the multitude of people is the king’s honor: but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince." (Prov. 14:28), but on the other hand, King David wrote, "I am small and despised, but I do not forsake your precepts." (Ps. 119:141)
Here is the truth of it - there is no generic meaning to abundance or lack.
Certain billionaire investors looked abundantly blessed until recently, when the dishonest manner in which they acquired their wealth came to light. Now they don't look quite so blessed. The Bakkers had the most influential and widely known television ministry except for Billy Graham and The 700 Club - until their dysfunctions and wrongdoings came to light.
King Solomon observed, "I have seen an evil in the world, that it happens to a righteous person as it should befall the wicked, and it happens to a wicked person as it should befall the righteous." (Ecclesiastes 8:14) This disorienting scenario nearly drove the psalmist Asaph insane, as he records for us in Psalm 73.
Rav Saul taught us on this topic this way: "Some people's sins are openly known beforehand, going before them to judgment; and some people's follow after." (1Tim. 5:24) In modern language, some people who are manifestly wicked appear to "get away with" the evil they do. If one "succeeds" in unjustly stealing from or harming someone, does that "prove" that G-d's "blessing" was on the deeds or the perpetrators? Does every criminal who gets away with theft, murder, perjury, or other such deeds have "G-d's 'blessing'" on him? Does harm befalling someone "prove" that G-d has forsaken them? By that standard, every G-dly hero in Scripture would have appeared during particular seasons in their lives to be "proven" not to have G-d's favor, and to be evil people displeasing to G-d, receiving Heaven's just dealings for their wrongs. However, when Job's friends told him this "obvious" truth about his sufferings, they so enraged G-d that He told them if Job did not intercede for them and if they did not do seriously sacrificial repentance for their words, G-d was going to execute punishment on them for so pompously and egregiously misrepresenting Him. (Job 42:7-9) When Ahitophel tried to capitalize on King Saul's evil and unfounded exile of King David, he lost everything when G-d eventually turned the unjust situation back around. (2Sam. 17:23)
As usual, Messiah Yeshua does a better job of dealing with this issue than any other teacher. When in His era he overheard discussion of two recent tragedies in which some Jews were murdered gruesomely by the Romans, and also a tower collapsed killing many people, it appears the gossipers were under the impression that such deaths "proved" those who died or were injured were people with whom G-d was not pleased. Yeshua interjected, "Do you think those people were worse sinners than every person in Jerusalem? I tell you no." (Luke 13:1-9) Yeshua's disciple, Shimon-Kefa (Peter), put the same concept Yeshua taught in Luke 13 this way: "The L-rd is not slack regarding his word (standards), as some people reckon slackness; but is patient to an extreme with us, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2Peter 3:9)
G-d is simply giving people room to define themselves; and leaving certain mysteries as mysteries. Prosperity and lack, safety and danger have no generic meaning; and those who dare speak for G-d on such a simplistic level, reducing the mysteries of life to compact formulas that really have no value other than to create an illusion of safety or access to gain - all of which appeals to people on some of our lowest levels, and enables sales of conference tickets, audio CDs and DVDs promising sure paths to "blessing" - do such ill service toward G-d as he actually is, and truth as it actually exists - that Scripture tells us the Creator is angered by such misrepresentation to the point of punitive action when it reaches a certain level.
What is legitimate? Pain hurts. When someone is hurting, it is "spiritual" to say "ouch."
"There is time to rejoice and a time to weep, say the Scriptures. (Eccl. 3:4) When Yeshua went to a funeral, Scripture tells us bluntly, "Yeshua wept." (John 11:35)
I know a religious leader who went to a concert the night of the same day their spouse died; and said to everyone, "This is the day the L-rd has made, I will be glad and rejoice in it." This person apparently genuinely thought this was a good example of g-dliness. They were, in fact, acting in a massively anti-Scriptural and unhealthy a manner - as the emotional consequences of this denial behavior manifested over time. Not weep the day one's spouse of decades dies? Go to a celebration the same night? Tell people looking to one as a spiritual example that the spiritual thing to do when one's spouse of decades dies is to ignore it and treat it like any other day in which fun things happen? Please. Such patently unhealthy behavior dishonors marriage, the deceased spouse, and by trading as 'spirituality' defiles genuine truth-seeking as well.
At the funeral of a friend, Yeshua wept.
There is a time when it is proper - fitting - correct, to weep. It is spiritual.
Spirituality is not unhealthy - but some people are.
Spirituality is not unengaged with the real, complex world - but some people are.
Spirituality is not able to reduce life to any easy formula in which life is only "about joy."
Perhaps the most inanely interpreted and applied religious sentence ever to gain prominence in Western religious life was said by the 16th-century British religionist, John Bradford; who, as he watched prisoners being led to execution, said, "There but for the grace of G-d, go I." Bradford was referring to the influence of the Spirit of G-d in his life, as a manifestation of G-d's kindness to him, preventing him from choosing such a life of sin. However, people now use this sentence to refer to others in misfortune. As if "the grace of G-d" is somehow more with the people who do not suffer misfortune than those who do. This is EXACTLY what Yeshua and Peter and Solomon and Job all taught against.
There is no formula.
Abundance and lack have no generic meaning.
As Albert Einstein was so fond of saying, "Ach - nicht so einfach ist es."
Things are not so simple.
Neither G-d nor Messiah are allergic to complexity - nor should we be.
When Rav Saul/Paul was in a persistent kind of pain he called "a thorn in the flesh," Scripture tells us he went to serious prayer three times that G-d would remove the painful thing (whatever it was) from his life. G-d's answer was, "No, I am going to leave it there," and the Creator went on to say of His decision to do so, "my grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." (2Cor. 12:9)
G-d's grace can apparently found as a matter of His direct, best will, in circumstances that to the human eye do not remotely qualify as abundance or blessing.
Bummer.
It would appear we must look elsewhere for what indicates who is pleasing to G-d and who is not.
Where, oh where shall we look? Oh - I remember now - "To the Torah and testimony of the prophets: if people do not speak in accord with that word, there is no dawn in them." (Isa. 8:20) And what does Scripture say?
"The L-rd knows who really belongs to Him, but here is the hallmark of G-d's genuine family: everyone who names the Name of the L-rd (accurately, genuinely) departs from evildoing." (2Tim. 2:19)
Want to know who is pleasing to G-d? Don't look at what they have. Get to know what they are.
Apparent abundance can collapse in a minute: and a widow with mere pennies to give can be more righteous than any army of abundantly heeled people acting out religious accomplishment in her very presence. (Mk. 12:42-44)
Truth is not so simple.
That is not bad news - it is simply challenging.
Ted Sorensen recently wrote in his book, Counselor: A Life On The Edge of History, that President Kennedy was fond of quoting something he learned as a Catholic growing up: "Do not pray for an easier life: pray to be stronger people." Actually, my favorite quote from that president goes like this: "My ambition is to be an idealist without illusions."
Idealists without illusions.
Y'hi ratzon (May it be G-d's will) for us and all whom we influence.
20 February 2009